ECHL Florida Everblades

'Blades win fourth straight at home wi th 4-3 shootout victory

Published on January 9, 2007 under ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (23-10-0) like a flair for the dramatic lately. For the second consecutive game, the Everblades trailed 3-1 to Charlotte Checkers (17-14-3) heading into the third period, only to pull off a 4-3 shootout victory Tuesday night at Germain Arena in front of a crowd of 5,110. The win was Florida's fourth straight on home ice.

With the help of two more short-handed goals, bringing their total to six vs. Charlotte over the past three games, the Everblades found a way to battle from behind to work their way into first place in the South Division standings. Brad Zancanaro and Reggie Berg teamed up to tally the third period goals for the Everblades to force overtime. Zancanaro tallied a power play goal at 2:35 of the frame on assists by David Brine and Frank MacDonald, then Berg sent the crowd into a frenzy with his team-leading 18th goal of the season and third short-handed goal of the year by wristing a shot from the right circle past Checkers net minder Chris Holt at 7:07 of the period. Zancanaro picked up the assist on Berg's tally, which was Florida's ECHL leading 15th short-handed goal of the season.

After neither team found the eventual game-winner in the remaining regulation time or in the five-minute overtime period, the game moved to a shootout. In the five-round shootout, Chris Lee tallied the lone goal in Florida's second round, while Everblades goaltender David Shantz turned aside all five Charlotte shooters.

For the second straight game, the Everblades opened the scoring, this time on an unassisted short-handed goal by Jon Lehun at 7:09 of the first period. The Checkers responded by tallying the next three goals. Zdenek Bahensky tied the game at one at 9:28 of the first period, then gave Charlotte the lead just 23 seconds into the start of the second period. The Checkers increased their lead to 3-1 on Hugh Jessiman's third goal of the season at 3:25 of the second period.

Penalty killing was the key for the Everblades throughout the three-game series as the Everblades held Charlotte to just 1-for-26 on the power play and scored the six short-handed tallies. The Checkers have now allowed a league-high 14 short-handed markers.

In goal, Shantz picked up the win to raise his record to 10-4-0 after stopping 38 of 41 shots in regulation and overtime, and all five shooters in the shootout. Holt (10-10-2) picked up a tie for his efforts, allowing three goals on 21 shots in regulation and overtime, and stopping three of the four shooters he faced in the shootout.

On the power play, the Everblades finished 1-for-5, while the Checkers closed out the night 0-for-7.

The Florida Everblades, proud affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers, return to the ice on Friday, January 12 when they host the South Carolina Stingrays at 7:30 p.m. from Germain Arena. Florida Everblades full season tickets & mini-plans are now available! Reserve your seat for all the exciting action today by calling (239) 948-7825. Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on group ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.

3 Stars:

1 - Chris Lee - FLA

2 - Brad Zancanaro - FLA

3 - Zdenek Bahensky - CHR

Check out the Florida Everblades Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



ECHL Stories from January 9, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central